Fluid valve



United States Patent FLUID VALVE Melvin M. Seeloff, Warren, Ohio,assignor to The Taylor- Winfield Corporation, Warren, Ohio, acorporation of Ohio Continuation of application Serial No. 278,902,March 27, 1952, which is a' continuation of application Serial No.665,975, April 30, 1946. This application February 16, 1954, Serial No.410,504

2 Claims. (Cl. 137-622) This invention relates to fluid valves and moreparticularly to improvements in fluid valves of the kind utilizingresilient deformable rings of toroidal form as the active valvingelements. Such a valve is disclosed and claimed in my U. S. Patent No.2,524,142, and the present invention is an improvement of the valvestructure disclosed in said patent. The present application is acontinuation of my co-pending application Ser. No. 278,902, filed March27, 1952, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 665,975, filedApril 30, 1946, both now abandoned.

By utilizing a resilient deformable toroidal shaped ring as the activevalving element in a fluid valve in accordance with teachings of myissued patent as specified above very substantial advantages result inthe production of valves and the valves produced are of superioroperating characteristics as regards ease and dependability ofoperation, exceptionally long operating life, and utmost simplicity ofmaintenance. The basic principle of the generic invention is that theresilient deformable ring, commonly termed an O ring and usually made ofsynthetic neoprene rubber, is loosely received in an annular grooveformed in a fixed or movable part of the valve for coaction with around-shouldered annular land on the other cooperating part of the valveso that upon reciprocation of the movable part of the valve the O-ringclimbs onto and off of the land with a rolling action. In accordancewith this principle a sliding fit" between the relatively movable rigidparts of the valve is wholly unnecessary and the valve may accordinglybe made very simply and economically. Also, the rolling action of theO-ring in the absence of sliding friction reduces the power required tooperate the valve to a minimum and makes the valve fast actingparticularly since the moving part may be made of a light weightmaterial such as aluminum, magnesium or plastic. As stated in my issuedpatent above specified, the axial length of the annular groove in whichthe O-ring valving element is seated in such as to not impedeappreciably the rolling action of the ring as it moves over the roundedshoulder of the valving land into and out of closing position. Thereforethe valving is accomplished almost solely by a rolling action of thering and the extent of axial movement of the movable rigid part of thevalve may be very small. Also, as the ring rolls onto the land in closeto the valve the ring is compressed radially between the annular landand the bottom cylindrical surface of the groove in which the ring isretained so that an effective, tight and complete seal is thus veryeasily obtained while yet the pressures are easily relieved by theapplication of a slight axial force to the movable part of the valve dueto the inherent tendency of the O-ring to roll back to its initial freecondition unrestrained in the annular port of the valve.

Prior to the present invention the advantageous valve arrangementoutlined above has been extremely limited in its application because tomake the valve work properly in accordance with the original inventionit is necessary to rather loosely mount the sealing ring in itsretaining groove and this looseness as well as the inherent resilientdeformable nature of the ring makes the ring prone to be blown out ofits seat by the fluid pressures and velocities developed in the valve.It is accordingly the primary object of the present invention to obviatethe difliculty of retaining the valving or sealing rings properly seatedin their retaining means so that the basic valving arrangement, with allits advantages pointed out above,

2,702,049 Patented Feb. 15, 1955 may be utilized in valves of any degreeof complexity without restriction.

A further object of the present invention is the provision in a fluidvalve of the kind utilizing loosely mounted resilient deformable O-ringsas the active valving elements of an improved arrangement whereby therings are subjected to a minimum or wear and tear and particularlyassured against damage by shearing between the relatively moving partsof the valve assembly.

The above ob ects and advantages are accomplished by the principles ofthe present invention by so axially relating the annular ports andadjacent valving lands of the valving assembly that each valving ring orthe assembly moves in the direction of fluid how when closing andagainst the direction of fluid flow when opening. 'lhus, when anypassage through the valve is open the valving ring for such passage ispositioned in the annular inlet port of the passage with nuid pressuresuostantlally unirorm over its entire external surrace whereby noappreciable forces are exerted on the ring tending to dislodge the ringfrom its seat. Upon closure of the passage and particularly as thevalving ring approaches the rounded shoulder or' the land the increasein veloclty of the fluid over and about the ring tends only to draw thering axially into the converging annular void and there is no tendencyof the ring to Blow out of its seat since the radial outward or inwardexpansion of the ring, as the case may be, is restricted by the ringcontacting the land. "1 he ring thus rapidly moves into position tendingto close the passage and into tight engagement with the leading sideedge of the annular groove in which the ring is seated so that uponfurther axial movement of this groove in a closing direction thereremains some axial space in the groove behind the ring into which thering can roll in the final closing of the passage. When the passage isclosed the fluid pressure is exerted on one axial face only of the ringwhich tends to expand the ring radially into tight engagement with theland and with the bottom surface of the ring retaining groove to therebyprovide a most effective seal. Upon opening this passage the ring, ofcourse, tends to be held onto the land by the fluid pressure until themechanical pressure exerted by the above said leading edge of the ringretaining groove is sufficient to overcome the same and the ring snapsaway from the land whereby the fluid on opposite sides of the ring israpidly equalized as explainedabove and the ring then rests free in thegroove.

It should now be understood from the above that the guiding principle ofthe present invention is that the resilient deformable valving ring isloosely received in an annular recess or groove for cooperation with thevalving land and that the ring and inlet port of the passage through thevalve are so related that relative movement of the ring with respect tothe land to close the passage is always in the direction of fluid flowand when the passage is open the ring is always in this port.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent upon consideration of the following detailed specification andthe accompanying drawing wherein there is fully disclosed a preferredembodiment of the invention. While I have chosen a multiple-ported fluidvalve to demonstrate the principles of the invention, it should beunderstood that the invention is equally applicable in various otherdevices and arrangements which will readily come to mind as thefollowing description proceeds.

In the drawing:

Figure lis a longitudinal section of a multiple-ported fluid valve ofthe spool type constructed in accordance with the principles of theinvention; and

Figures 2 and 3 are enlargements of portions of Figure 1 to illustratethe principles of the invention.

In the drawing, reference numeral 10 designates the body of a valvewhich is provided with a pair of fluid inlet ports 11 and 12, fluidexhaust port 13, and a pair of fluid translation ports 14 and 15. Inaccordance with usual practice, a bore 16 extends axially through thebody of member 10 and slidably mounted in this bore is a spool-likevalve core 17 which, in practice, is arranged to be moved axially bysuitable means, not shown. Communicating with the port 11 and positionedconcentrically about the bore 16 is an annular recess 18. Similarrecesses 19, 20, 21, and 22, are formed in the body member incommunication with the ports 12, 13, 14, and 15, respectively. The webseparating the annular recesses 18 and 21 is beveled and rounded at itsouter edge as shown at 23 while the outer edge of the web whichseparates recesses 19 and 22 is similarly beveled and rounded as shownat 24.

Spool 17 is machined from a round rod stock length and is reduced indiameter at spaced portions of its center part as shown at 25 and 26,allowing an integral shoulder 27 to remain and as shown more clearly inFigure 2 the annular side edges of the shoulder 27 are rounded or easedfor a purpose to be later described. In each of the enlarged endportions of the spool 17 there is formed a pair of axially spacedannular grooves 28, 29, 30, and 31. Each of these grooves is arranged toreceive a toroidal-shaped sealing ring of resilient deformable materialas neoprene, for example, commonly termed 0 rings in the art. Thedimensions of the grooves in relation to the dimensions of the rings aresuch that the rings are very slightly, if at all, compressed either in aradial direction or in an axial direction when the palrts are at restand no fluid pressure is applied to the va ve.

A pair of annular grooves 32 and 33 are formed in the side wall of thebore 16 on opposite sides of the larger annular recess 20 to receivesealing rings of the character above specified, and, here too, theconsideration of relative dimensioning is such that no compression iseffected in the rings during the absence of fluid pressure. By referringto Figure 1, it will be observed that the outermost of the sealing ringswhich are located in the grooves 28 and 31 are always in the cylindricalbore 16 regardless of the position of the valve core 17 while the ringin groove 30 moves from a position in recess 19 to a position within theweb intermediate the recesses 19 and 22 and the ring in groove 29 movesfrom a position in recess 18 to a sealing position intermediate recesses18 and 21 and vice versa. During operation of the valve, the shoulder 27reciprocates from a position within the ring housed in recess 32 to aposition within the ring housed in groove 33.

In the position of the valve shown in Figure l the pressure inlet port11 is connected with the port 14 while the port is in communication withthe port 13 and the port 12 is blocked off by the two sealing ringswhich are housed in the annular grooves 30 and 31 of the core 17. Asboth ends of the valve are identical the operation of but one will bedescribed in detail in explanation of the principles of the invention.First, the leakage of any fluid pressure past the land intermediate theannular grooves 28 and 29 will cause fluid pressure to build up againstthe inner side of the ring in groove 28 thereby tending to flatten thisring against the outer side wall of the groove 28 and the effect of thisis to expand the ring in a radial direction to effectively seal this endof the valve against emission of fluid pressure. When the core 17 ismoved to the left as shown in Figure 1 there is equal pressure on allsides of the ring housed in groove 29 and there is no tendency for thisring to become displaced. The fluid pressure acting against the ring ingroove 32 flattens this ring against the inner side wall of this groovethereby effectively sealing the annular space 21 from the annular space20. If now the valve core 17 is moved to the right the shoulder 27passes out of the ring in groove 32 but the ring is flattened and retained against the inner side wall of this groove as above describeduntil pressure is equalized on all surfaces of the ring and the ringwill stand freely in the groove.

Upon the core 17 being moved to the right the ring in groove 29 movesinto the cylindrical surface in the web intermediate the annular spaces18 and 21 after traversing the bevel 23 and it should be observed thatas this ring approaches such cylindrical surface and pressure builds upbehind it the ring will be flattened and retained against the inner sidewall of the groove 29.

It should now be apparent that the arrangement above described is mosteffective in preventing fluid pressure from blowing any of the sealingrings out of their sockets or grooves and in preventing shearing orother damage to the rings. These desirable results are accomplishedprimarily by so arranging the valve elements that at all times and inany position of the valve undue deformation of the flexible, deformablesealing rings by fluid pressure applied to the rings is restrained by atleast one end wall of each ring retaining groove and by concentriccylindrical surfaces formed by the grooves and by contiguous surfaces ofthe opposite member of the valve. Thus, during movement of the valvecore in a direction tending to unseat any of the sealing rings againstthe action of fluid pressure the normally deleterious action resultingfrom the friction encountered and by the radial expansion of the ring bythe fluid pressure is ofiset by the confining of the ring in the annularsocket formed by the concentric cylindrical restraining surfaces and bythe adjacent side wall of the groove. This restraint is effective untilthe valve port is opened and the pressure equalized all about the ring.

It should be observed that in any valve constructed according to thepresent invention the sealing rings are subjected to an absolute minimumdegree of wear since the rings do not have peripheral contact with thevalve body (or' core member) during the greater part of their paths oftravel. The construction is such that the valving lands of the core orbody have only slight relative movement with respect to the cooperatingsealing rings and a substantial part of such relative movement may betaken up by rolling action of the rings. This, together with the factthat the valving ring entering lands are rounded or eased at theiroperative edges, reduces wearing of the rings and of the lands to aminimum. Also, this arrangement enables the valve parts to beconstructed of readily machinable soft metals without the heretoforenormal requirement of chrome or other hardening plating. I have found,for example, that by utilizing the principles of this invention a valvehaving a cast aluminum body member can be most economically andexpeditiously produced and that such valve is of better than normalcommercial longevity characteristics.

The above specifically described embodiment of the invention should beconsidered as illustrative only as obviously many changes may be madetherein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.Reference should therefore be had to the appended claims in determiningthe scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a fluid valve comprising a body member having a bore therein witha multiplicity of axially spaced enlargements in said bore definingports whereby at least two separate and independent fluid passages areprovided through the valve, and a core member slidably received in saidbore and having axially spaced portions of reduced diameter to providecommunication axially through the annular lands separating theenlargements in said bore; the improvement which consists of annulargrooves formed in certain of said lands, a toroidal-shaped fluidimpervious ring of resilient and deformable material positioned in eachof said annular grooves, said core member having annular landscontiguous to said portions of reduced diameter and having annulargrooves in certain of said last mentioned lands, a toroidal-shaped fluidimpervious ring of resilient and deformable material positioned in saidlast mentioned grooves, said rings and lands adapted to have alternateoverlapping and axially displaced relation during operation of thevalve, said annular grooves having end wall surfaces to limit axialmovement of the ring retained therein in either axial direction, andsaid annular grooves being so positioned with respect to the portscontaining fluid pressure that upon movement of the core to close offany of said ports containing fluid pressure the relative movement of thering effecting such closure with respect to its cooperating valving landis in the direction of fluid flow and when opening is against the normaldirection of fluid flow.

2. In a fluid valve of the type comprising a body member having a boretherein and having axially spaced inlet and outlet ports communicatingwith said bore, and a core member slidably received in said bore; theimprovement which comprises a plurality of axially spaced cooperativepairs of annular valving areas on said bore and body members, saidmembers having annularly recessed portions whereby upon predeterminedaxial movement of said core member with respect to said body memberannular passage means are formed for the axial flow of fluid betweenports, said pairs of valving areas each including a circumferentialgroove, a toroidal-shaped fluid impervious ring of resilient anddeformable material positioned in each of said grooves, at least one ofsaid grooves being in said core member and another of said a recessedportion, said rings and ports being so oriented with respect to saidannularly recessed portions that relative movement of either of saidrings with respect to its valving land to cause axial flow of fluid overthe valving land is in a direction opposite to the direction of saidaxial flow.

No references cited.

